A PAIR of robbers stole a darts player’s tobacco then tried to sell it back to him in a bid to make him get out his wallet.

Kyle Coupe and Tee-Jay O’Hanlon followed their victim from The Regent pub on Victoria Road on October 11, where the former had apparently taken his tobacco.

They confronted him in a side road between the pub and Old Town in attempt to rob him of his wallet.

Their victim had gone to the pub to play darts and had three in his pocket.

Hannah Squire, prosecuting, said: “He took one out and jabbed at Kyle Coupe to stop him robbing him and that seems to have been the catalyst for what then followed.”

The pair followed the man as he walked towards Old Town. He stopped off at a convenience store to buy some tobacco, with staff noticing that he was bleeding from his face.

At the bus stop outside Jack’s Bistro they subjected him to a terrifying assault. He was pushed, punched and kicked. His head was held up while he was struck repeatedly.

The set of darts were thrown into an alleyway. The men were spotted calmly walking away from the scene with a woman.

As they walked up Victoria Road one of the women was allegedly heard saying: “He shouldn’t have tried to f***ing stab him then.”

The victim spent three days in hospital and his face had to be wrapped up with bandages.

Coupe, 25, of Walter Close, and O’Hanlon, 24, of no fixed address, pleaded guilty to GBH with intent.

Judge Peter Crabtree adjourned matters until December 18 for sentence.

He said: “Plainly there will be lengthy custodial sentences.”

The judge asked for medical reports to be produced explaining the extent of Coupe and O’Hanlon’s victim’s injuries.

In 2016, Coupe was jailed for 15 months for subjecting prone homeless people sleeping in Whalebridge car park to a horrifying campaign of violence.

At one point, then 22-year-old Coupe even appeared to film the violence on his mobile phone.

O’Hanlon also has previous convictions on his record for violence.

In 2016, he was jailed for 56 weeks for assaulting his pregnant girlfriend.

When he was arrested he was picked up first with a knife in his coat pocket then – after failing to answer bail – with a set of rice flails.